This blog provides delicious,traditional, vegetarian, South Indian Recipes from my mother Chitra Amma's kitchen. There are few 'world recipes' as well!
Thanks to Shravan, Pranav, Akash, Tara, Guggs, Shankari, Adu, Dhrithi, and Appa Ramachandran for the photos!

METHOD1. Wash and chop the snakegourd along with its tender seeds into small uniform pieces.2. Boil the chopped snakegourd in just enough water with 1/2 a pinch of salt till it is cooked but not mushy.3. Drain the vegetable and set it aside to cool. Save the drained water to be used in other dishes.4. Grind coconut gratings and green chillies into a smooth paste adding a little water.5. Blend the paste, 1/2 a pinch of salt and the thick curds together and mix into the cooked and cooled snake gourd.6. Heat coconut oil and add the whole black pepper.7. When the pepper cracks add cumin seeds and switch off flame.8. Add curry leaves into the seasoning and pour over the Podalangai Pachadi.Relish the aroma of the seasoning and the luscious pachadi with any 'variety rice' you like.

Friday, September 24, 2010

INJI TENGAI THAIR PACHADIInji Tengai Thair Pachadi (ginger and coconut pachadi) can be termed as a double dish because it can also be used as a chutney depending on the requirement. One spoon of this pachadi with one spoon of hot steaming rice at the beginning of a meal ensures good appetite. It goes very well as a side dish with pongal, pulav, dosas and adais.INGREDIENTSFresh coconut gratings - 1 cupPeeled and chopped fresh ginger - 1/2 cupSalt - 1/4 tspFresh thick curds - 1 cupMustard seeds - 1 pinchOil - 1 tspFreshly chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbspMETHOD1. Add little water and smoothly grind coconut gratings, ginger and salt into a thick paste.2. Blend the paste into the curds.3. Heat oil and add mustard seeds.4. When the mustard seeds splutter add the seasoning to the pachadi.5. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.Enjoy the cool Inji thair pachadi and its appetizing aroma.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

VADAM THAIR PACHADIThair pachadi is a cooling side dish relished along with a wholesome south Indian meal. The basic ingredient is of course 'thair' - curd - which is thick, fresh and not sour. When a vegetable, fruit, nut , herb or a savoury is added to the curd and garnished or seasoned with spices it transforms into a delicious thair pachadi.Cucumber (vellarikai) thair pachadi effortlessly fits into any menu plan and is most commonly included in our every day cooking. With a little more thinking and a little more effort many other interesting thair pachadis can be prepared.Vadams or Vadagams in Tamil also known as Sandige in Kannada are rice wafers or crispies prepared with rice flour during the summer months.

One portion of sago - javvarisi - is cooked like a gruel and is left to cool overnight. The next day four portions of rice flour is cooked in eight parts of water. Previously cooked sago, green chilly paste,asafoetida, salt and lime juice are blended smoothly into the dough. The dough is cooled and pressed through the vadagam press called 'nazhi' into small circles on a clean cloth spread

out under the sun. Once the vadams are dry they are stored in air tight containers. These vadams are deep fried and savoured like chips.

My mother's easy to prepare vadam thair pachadi is considered a delicacy among family members and we love to prepare it on special occasions.

INGREDIENTSVadams ( Ready made vadams are easily available in the stores) - 6Fresh and thick curds - 1 cupOil - for fryingMETHOD1. Heat oil in a kadai and drop two vadams at a time.2. When the vadam puffs up ( usually two or even three times its size), remove with a perforated ladle and drain on a paper towel.3. Ten minutes before serving arrange the vadams in a single layer in a shallow bowl and slightly crumble them with the back of a ladle.4. Beat and pour the thick curd over the vadams and let them soak for ten minutes before you serve.No salt or other spices are necessary as the vadams already contain them. Enjoy the flavoursome vadam thair pachadi with any meal.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

PALKOZHUKATTAI - (DUMPLINGS IN MILK) WITH A BENGALI INFLUENCE FOR GANESHA CHATURTHI

This year my daughter, Dibs, has joined me to celebrate all the festivals at our place after so many years. She is a great cook and enjoys trying out recipes and we discuss a lot before publishing a new post.

Ganesha Chaturthi is almost round the corner, and I intended to prepare the traditional PalKozhukattai as an offering to the Lord. My daughter had mentioned to me about a Bengali sweet called Dudh Puli Pithe, which reminded me very much of Pal Kozhukattai. Today I prepared some traditional Pal Kozhukattais, and also some with a Bengali touch for a dry run, and it turned out to be very delicious.

Traditional Pal kozukattais are simple cooked rice flour beads, in milk. With the ingredients below, I made both varieties!

1. Melt jaggery in a cup of warm water and filter it.2. Mix the coconut and jaggery and cook in a thick bottomed vessel, till it becomes a lump and starts leaving the sides of the thick vessel.3. A pinch of cardamom powder can be added to the above 'Poornam' if desired. I like to retain the authentic flavour of coconut and jaggery without the addition of any flavouring.

TO MAKE THE KOZHUKATTAI (DUMPLING) DOUGH4. Boil 1 glass of water with a pinch of salt and a tsp of oil in a heavy vessel.5. Slowly add rice flour to the boiling water, stirring all the time.6. Cook the rice flour till all water is absorbed; switch off flame and cover with a lid.

TO PREPARE THE MILK

7. Boil milk till it reduces to 3/4th the original volume.8. Make a paste with 1 tbsp rice flour and water and stir into the milk and boil for few more minutes.This will prevent the milk from curdling while adding sugar.9. Add sugar, cook for few more minutes; add cardamom powder and switch off flame.

MAKING THE KOZHUKATTAIS (DUMPLINGS)

10. Knead the cooked rice flour into a smooth dough.11. Take out a small portion and roll into very small bead sized balls and keep aside.This is for the traditional pal kozhukattais.

12. From the main portion, pinch out a plum size of dough, knead once again and make into a cup, coating yours fingers with oil so that the dough does not stick to your fingers.13. Place a teaspoon of 'poornam' in the dough cup and gather the edges together sealing the poornam inside the shell.

14. Flatten and press the gathered point and shape the kozhukattais into poornam filled flat balls. For the given measure you can get a cup of beads, and 21 poornam filled kozhukattais can be prepared. 15. Steam the traditional kozhukattais as well as the poornam filed kozhukattais in the pressure cooker for ten minutes, and allow them to cool down.TRADITIONAL PAL KOZHUKATTAI1. Remove one cup of the prepared milk in another vessel and bring to a boil.2. Gently add steamed dough beads and raisins to the milk and boil for a few more minutes.I just added one tablespoon of the left over 'poornam' to the milk for this preparation, which enriched the flavour.PAL KOZHUKATTAI WITH THE BENGALI INFLUENCE 1. Bring the prepared milk to a boil and reduce flame.2. Gently add the steamed Poorna Kozhukattais to the milk and simmer for two minutes.Offer both the sweet dishes to Lord Ganesha and indulge in the prasadam!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Sheedai is easy to prepare and is an interesting nibbler's delight, which is mostly remembered only during Sri Krishna Jayanthi. This is the day to celebrate the birth of Lord Sri Krishna, when sweets and savouries relished by babies and children are prepared as offerings to the divine baby .

It is customary for the professional cooks to pray and perform a short pooja to the hearth, stove or choola before commencing to prepare a feast.This is supposed to be an assurance for a good feast and protection against any probable fire hazards or accidents. Like wise special care is observed while preparing Murukkus and Sheedais because they have a tendency to erupt and burst like crackers once they touch hot oil, splashing the same on the cook's face. A small quantity of dough is shaped like a cone which represents Lord Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles and the Sheedai Pillaiyar is fried with a prayer before the whole lot of Sheedais are fried.

Grand mothers love to make 'Cheepees' out of the dough for their adorable baby Krishna. The Sheedai dough is shaped like popsicles or bread sticks and fried and offered to the Lord and then given to the babies in the house.

Chitra Amma's Recipes

World Recipes

Get Recipes in your Mailbox

Enter your email address:

Hello

Welcome to Chitra Amma's Kitchen.

I am Dibs. I am a born Foodie. I love to cook; love to eat; love to feed folks who appreciate good food. Blogging provides me a great way of documenting my mother, Chitra’s recipes, as a ready reference irrespective which time zone I live in. Amma honestly makes the best food I've ever had, and somehow, the anecdotes she tells us, make the dishes taste all the better.Most posts here are written by my mother Chitra. It’s her recipes, along with related reminiscences of people, places and anecdotes. She writes, I post!What started for a lark, has now become a serious hobby, drawing in participation from the whole family. My father, S.R. Ramachandran has started clicking away every dish made at home! Aunts, cousins, siblings, contribute to photos, and ask for recipes.We try to illustrate implements such as utensils, grinding stones and so on from the ‘pre-electric-mixer’ days wherever possible. We hope this will make an interesting read for future generations, on how food was cooked in earlier times!The site is still in its infancy, and slowly evolving, as our skills improve! We invite your comments, ideas, and questions, and will attempt answering them.

Thank you for your visit, and we hope you enjoy your stay at Chitra Amma’s Kitchen.